A Pair of Ears
by xxmagex
Summary: Xander goes with a different costume for Halloween after winning a prize.


Title: A Pair of Ears  
Author: XxMageX  
Disclaimer: The Buffy the Vampire Slayer characters are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar, Kuzui, WB and UPN. All things Star Trek are the property of Gene Roddenberry, NBC and whoever else. No copyright infringement is intended, and not one red cent is being earned from this story.  
Rating: PG-13, maybe light R  
Warnings: None really, apart from maybe one scene with adult implications  
Main characters: Xander, ensemble  
Setting: Takes place during BtVS season 2  
Classification: YAHF, Crossover  
Author's Notes: Thanks to Starway Man for beta'ing this.  
Summary: Xander gets a different costume from Ethan's shop. Live long and prosper.

******

Ethan's Costume Shoppe, Sunnydale, California  
October 30th, 1997

"Congratulations, you are my two hundredth customer here today!" the friendly-looking shopkeeper said with a distinct English accent.

Xander Harris blinked. "Okay, thanks..." he said, not sure what else to say.

The man behind the counter smiled and shook his head. "No, you obviously don't understand. As the two hundredth customer, you win a free costume." He reached below the counter and pulled out a box. "I think this is something you'd like. It's from a TV show back in the Sixties that was apparently very popular, over on this side of the pond. Everything you'll need is right here; the wig, the uniform, the weapons, and all the equipment that went with the character. Also the ears, of course."

"Ears?" Xander asked, clearly being confused.

"Oh yes, mustn't forget that." Ethan Rayne, for that was the man's name, opened the box for Xander to look in.

Xander recognized the costume immediately. His inner geek started salivating at the sight, and even though the costume was something he'd never have purchased on his own initiative this was too good an opportunity to pass up. Besides, Halloween was supposed to be 'come as you aren't' night, and this guy was everything Xander wasn't.

Dispassionate, brilliant, and an ass-kicker when he needed to be.

"Cool, this is much better than two dollars to be a soldier! I'll take it," Harris said simply.

Ethan smiled. "Yes, of course. Well, there you go."

Xander took the box and hurried out the door. Rayne just smiled again, anticipating quite a lot of chaos tomorrow night before moving on to the next customer.

******

1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale, California  
October 31st, 1997

"I'll get it!" Buffy called out as she headed to the front door in response to the doorbell ringing. "Hello?" the Slayer said as she opened the door.

There was a moment of silence, as she looked outside. "You're not a soldier," Miss Summers said with a bit of confusion.

"Indeed. It seemed illogical to dress up as a primitive warrior, so I chose to appear in this form to you," Xander said way too calmly as he entered the Summers home, dressed as a blue-shirt Mr. Spock from the original series of Star Trek.

Buffy didn't want to say it. But to her eyes, her best male friend looked like a complete nerd straight out of a bad sci-fi convention. The wig, the ears, the Starfleet insignia on the shirt; 'Trekkie' didn't even begin to describe it. She winced in embarrassment as Xander looked around the room, and pretended to scan it with the prop tricorder he was carrying.

"My readings show three lifeforms in this abode, all female and extremely attractive. It is logical therefore that this is my destination," Harris said in his continuing imitation of Mr. Spock.

Getting past the embarrassment factor, Buffy finally examined Xander with an appraising eye. "Pretty authentic-looking costume, Xand. But what happened to the whole soldier dealie?"

"Got a better deal." Xander looked at Buffy and almost started to drool at the noblewoman dress she was wearing. "Whoa, Buffster. I totally renounce Spandex," he said in appreciation, dropping the Mr. Spock act.

Buffy blushed a little bit at the compliment delivered in typical Xander manner. "Why thank you, kind sir. You flatter me." She bowed as she responded.

Xander reverted back into character. "Madam, it is only logical to say so. Vulcans cannot lie."

Is he flirting with me? Buffy thought to herself, before she heard Willow's footsteps and pulled herself together. "Hey, if you like my costume, wait 'til you get a load of Willow's..." She turned to look at the top of the stairs.

Only to see Willow wearing the ghost costume. "Casper."

"Indeed, Miss Rosenberg, that is a most impressive spectral entity you are representing," Xander said in Spock speak.

Buffy rolled her eyes. How was she ever going to get Willow to be more assertive, and make Xander wake up and smell the hottie?

******

Somewhere on the streets of Sunnydale  
A few hours later

Commander Spock, first officer of the USS Enterprise, looked around in complete confusion. He had no idea how he had arrived here, or even where here was.

The next moment though, he knew that he was on Earth; he knew the atmospheric composition of his mother's home planet perfectly, and the lack of heat and pressure made it obvious that this was not the planet Vulcan. {Interesting, How did I get here, wherever 'here' is precisely?}

It appeared he was in an area developed for residential purposes, from the look of the dwellings around him. However, the houses were all thoroughly antiquated in their appearance; Spock estimated they were circa late twentieth century or early twenty-first century homes within the United States of America.

All around him, people were running and screaming. Some of them were clearly human, while many of the smaller ones were nonhuman and seemed to resemble creatures from human mythology.

He tried to figure out what was going on. The last thing Spock remembered was being on the bridge of the Enterprise, carrying out scans of the planet his starship was approaching. Perhaps some powerful alien had teleported him down to the surface from the Enterprise, and was now manipulating his perception of reality.

It wouldn't be the first time that had happened. And the memories of Talos IV still bothered Mr. Spock a great deal.

The Vulcan was relieved to learn he had his phaser, communicator and tricorder with him, standard material for any away team member. He opened up the communicator, which activated with its usual chirping sound.

"Spock to Enterprise." Mr. Spock waited for a few seconds, but did not receive a reply. "Spock to Enterprise. Respond." But again, there was no reply. "Mr. Spock to any crew members of the USS Enterprise currently on the planet's surface. Respond." It seemed that there were no subspace transmissions of any kind at all in the vicinity.

He put the communicator back on his belt and started using the tricorder. The readings he got were most illogical.

According to the machine's sensors, all of the beings on the street had human attributes. The ones who appeared to be non-human were showing a very erratic energy signature. "Fascinating," Spock said more to himself than anyone else.

The Vulcan didn't initially notice the redheaded running up to him shouting, "Xander, Xander!" But Spock heard the voice get louder he looked up, the tricorder also moving up. He took note of the readings.

"You are not here."

"What?" was the flabbergasted response as Willow came to a sudden stop.

"My readings indicate that even though I can see you, there is no corporeal being in the location you are currently occupying. Therefore, you are not what you appear to be. There are some anomalous readings, granted. You appear to be a human female of Earth stock, but all the evidence that I have suggests that you are in fact something else," Spock answered. "My working hypothesis is that you are a hologram or projection of some sort. Can you confirm this?"

"You're, you're actually Mr. Spock," Willow said in apparent incredulity.

Spock nodded. "That is indeed correct. How did you know my identity? Also, where exactly am I?"

The girl walked around him. "Oh my God, You actually turned into your costume. You really are Mr. Spock!"

"I have already previously confirmed that observation. Now, I need to know how you knew my name. And where am I?" Spock persisted.

"Okay, look, Mr. Spock, this is gonna be hard to believe; but please, hear me out. This isn't the future, the year is actually 1997..."

Mr. Spock looked around for less than a moment. "I see no evidence of the ravages of the Eugenics Wars. And time travel technology did not exist on Earth back then."

Willow looked annoyed. "Lemme finish! Look, I'm Willow and you're Xander. Bottom line, you-you've turned into your Halloween costume. You're actually a teenager who dressed up as Mr. Spock and who's become the real deal here, because something has turned everybody into their costumes tonight!"

He didn't believe it, but nonetheless curious Spock turned the tricorder on himself. His right eyebrow shot up as he read the results.

"This is most odd. My readings indicate that I have a similar anomalous signature to the one that you do. It appears that whatever is happening here has also affected me." Before Spock could say more, a loud scream rang out.

"Buffy!" Willow shouted out. "Come on!" She started running in the direction of the scream. Spock closed the cover to his tricorder, took out his phaser and after setting it on stun followed after the human girl.

A short run later, Spock finally caught up with the redhead. She was with another girl, who wearing a primitive dress which appeared to be straight out of the late eighteenth century. The brunette was clearly distressed, screaming something about Willow's attire being utterly improper.

Spock could easily remember how many of the women that Captain Kirk had interacted with over the last year or so had actually been dressed in far more revealing attire. {Humans. Cultural mores may vary, but the female psychology basically always remains the same. The next time I visit the Science Academy on Vulcan, I should speak to someone about the subject.}

A motor vehicle drove by, and the noblewoman started screaming some more. "A demon, a demon!"

"That is in fact merely a motorized conveyance used by the local inhabitants," Spock explained mildly.

The screaming girl turned and looked at Spock. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of his ears and eyebrows.

"Demon! You're a demon!" the noblewoman screamed, pointing at Spock. Logically enough, she then started running away as fast as she could.

"Your ears, Buffy saw your ears and it freaked her out. Come on!" Willow said urgently and started running after the fleeing girl. "Buffy, Buffy! Come back!"

Spock pursued the two, with his alien physiology he was easily able to catch up to the fleeing girl. He grabbed her by the arm and the possessed Slayer started hitting him on the chest. "No! Let go!"

"Please calm yourself at once," the Vulcan said in that perennially calm manner of his.

"Let me go, devil spawn!" the noblewoman screamed in terror. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..."

Willow was trying to calm her down but to no avail, so Spock quickly weighed his options. He was apparently stranded on the Earth of the past, and there was obviously temporal chaos of some sort going on. The immediate surroundings were not secure, and fairly hostile. So he reached up with his right hand, and gripped the noblewoman on the right shoulder.

Spock's nerve pinch was spot-on; Lady Buffy's eyes rolled up into her head and she slumped unconscious.

"What did you do? Oh, right, that Vulcan nerve pinch thing," Willow said, suddenly remembering that part of the show. "Okay, now what?"

"It would be inadvisable to leave her on the street in light of ongoing events. We need to find a safe locale to assess the situation, and examine all our options," Spock declared.

Willow thought for a second. "Buffy's house, we can go there. It's not far."

Spock nodded as he picked up the unconscious teenage girl. "Lead the way."

Not far away, Cordelia Chase screamed as she was pursued by some kind of Big Foot creature. It had ripped her costume in several places, and the fashion queen suspected that she wasn't going to get her deposit money back from Partytown now. Of course, she was more worried about bad things happening to her before that, the creature continually narrowed the gap between them as they both ran through the streets.

Suddenly, a beam of blue light struck the creature with a high-pitched whine. The Sasquatch lookalike grunted and fell to the ground. Cordy then heard Willow calling her name. All of a sudden, a weird-looking Xander wearing a tacky blue shirt and black trousers grabbed her and dragged her with inhuman strength into the house where Buffy Summers lived, somehow carrying the unconscious Slayer at the same time.

Cordelia didn't want to admit it, but she was rather impressed by the dweeb's unexpected physical prowess and attitude, despite how much it currently annoyed her.

Once inside, Willow got in front of Miss Chase. "Okay, listen to me, you're not a cat. Your name is Cordelia, a-and you've turned into your costume."

Cordelia just looked at the female nerd. "Right, Willow, I see that those special ed. classes are finally working for you," she said in her usual snarky tone. "Now what the hell is going on?"

"You know who I am?" Willow asked, confused.

"Well, duh!" She heard a whirring sound and turned to look at the source. Cordy saw Xander standing there with his knotted eyebrows and pointy ears, holding out a black box towards her. "What?"

He pulled it back to him and looked at the display. "I can detect no anomalous energy readings from her," Mr. Spock said simply. "She appears to be normal."

"Well, too bad the same can't be said about you," Cordy snapped at Spock. She squinted and looked closer at his head. "Hey, what the heck happened to your ears? You look like that guy on TV!"

"That's 'cause he is," Willow explained.

The Vulcan raised an eyebrow at the reference to TV by the teenage females. He recalled that it was a colloquialism for a form of popular entertainment at this point during Earth's history. He also wondered why he looked like a character from it.

"Cordy, something's turned everyone apart from you into their costumes tonight. I dressed up as a ghost, and now I really am one. Xander dressed up as Mr. Spock, and y'know, now he really is an alien from another planet," Willow finished saying.

"I am in fact half human," Spock spoke up slowly, even though neither girl seemed to pay attention.

"What about the bottle-blonde freakazoid?" Cordelia asked, nodding at Buffy who was awake by this point, and had started looking at the pictures on the wall in wonderment.

Willow sighed. "She dressed up as a lady from 1775. Y'know, to impress Angel, since that's what the women from his time used to wear."

"Willow, geez. Is this really the time to try to warn me off that hunk of salty goodness?" Cordelia snapped at the Goth-looking girl.

"Cordelia! Focus!" Willow almost shouted.

At that moment, Buffy spoke up. "This, this could be me." She was pointing at a group shot of the Library Loser Crowd, as Cordelia called them sometimes.

Willow walked over to Buffy. "It is you, Buffy. Don't you remember anything?"

The subject of Willow's comment shook her head. "No. No, no, that's not me. I don't know any of you. I don't like it here. I want to go home!" Her volume increased near the end of her rant.

"Oh, take a chill pill. You are home!" Cordelia snapped.

Any further comment was interrupted by Angel coming into the entryway from the kitchen. Buffy saw what she thought was a normal man and instantly ran to him.

"Kind sir, I am in terrible peril with these two ruffians and their pet demon. I beg you for assistance! Please take me to my father's keep, and I am sure he will reward you greatly," the noblewoman begged the new arrival.

"You will step away from him immediately," Mr. Spock commanded. His right arm was extended out with the phaser aimed straight at Angel's heart, and the tricorder in his left hand. Buffy's eyes grew wide at the sight of the Vulcan aiming a weapon at her direction. She naturally fainted, and Angel grabbed her before she hit the floor.

"Put her down gently. And then back away from her at once," the possessed Xander told the vampire firmly.

Willow hurried in front of Angel, for all the good it would do if Spock decided to open fire anyway. "It's all right, he's a friend!"

The Vulcan's aim didn't waver one iota. "Whatever he is, this person has no pulse and no heartbeat and his body is currently at room temperature. He appears to be human, but according to my readings what stands before us is a dead body, a corpse."

"Yeah, well, that's because...uh, Angel's a vampire," Willow said hesitantly.

"Vampires do not exist," Spock replied at once. "The very concept is completely illogical, not to mention theoretically impossible. I cannot accept that assertion without proof."

Willow shrugged. "Angel?"

The vampire obliged, briefly going into his demon face. Cordelia screamed and moved backwards, "Oh my God! Oh my God!"

"Cordy, it's okay, don't worry. You know that Angel's on our side," Willow hurriedly said.

"It's not that! It's the fact I've been flirting with a vampire lately! Ick," Miss Chase said with a typical 'yuck' expression on her face, thinking how unfair it was that someone so good-looking should happen to be a monster.

Willow simply shrugged, before she turned back to the Enterprise's first officer. "I know it's hard to believe, but it's true."

"There is...much about tonight which is hard for me to believe," Spock commented dryly. "But it is axiomatic that logic is only the beginning of wisdom. Therefore, I will accept your information for now, at least on a provisional basis."

"Well, now THAT certainly didn't sound like Xander. How the heck did the big dorkhead here get so deep?" Cordelia asked of no one in particular. Dismissing that, she then looked down at her costume. "Just look at this. There is no way I'm going to get my deposit back from Partytown now!"

Willow rolled her eyes at the cheerleader's remark. "Cordy, we gotta focus on what's important!"

Cordelia got a petulant look on her face. "Hey, that is important. We're talking about my money here!"

"Cordelia." The occupants of the room looked at Xander in surprise, as Spock's use of her name lacked the usual bite or sarcasm from the male teenager. "The situation is such that our priorities must lie elsewhere, but if it will facilitate your cooperation, when the situation allows, I will do what I can to correct the problem to your satisfaction with the relevant authorities."

"What?" Cordelia couldn't wrap her mind around words like these coming out of Xander's mouth.

"He'll see to it that you get reimbursed for your deposit," Willow explained, dumbing it down for the cheerleader.

"How, is the big shot alien going to pay me with space bucks or something?"

Spock came forward and once he was close enough, Cordelia couldn't help but notice Xander's well-defined abs and pecs, which sent an unexpected dizzy rush of hormones through her system. The Vulcan said simply, "I am sure that there is someone who has experience in these matters, and that person would be the one to address your concerns to."

Cordelia looked at Willow in confusion. "Huh?"

"He means he'll talk to Giles about it later."

Cordy blew out a breath of air in exasperation. "Well, why didn't he just say so?"

Spock in Xander's body looked at Willow. "Who is this Giles person?"

"He's the head geek that you losers hang out with," Cordelia answered.

"Uh, she means he-he's the librarian at the high school where we all go. Pretty much the expert in the weird and wacky around here," Willow quickly explained.

"Would he be able to help us?" Spock asked.

"If anyone can right now, it's him," Willow answered.

"Then logic dictates we should contact him at once."

Cordy rolled her eyes at the half-breed alien's remark, as she went to the landline telephone and then withdrew a cell from one of her pockets. A few moments later she said, "We got a problem, dork. The phones are out and for some reason, my cell phone isn't getting service."

Spock considered that. "My Starfleet communicator would only work if he had a similar device himself, and I consider it inadvisable for us to leave this house as a group. I would recommend one of us go to procure his assistance while the others stay here."

"I'll do it, I know the way and most importantly, nothing out there can touch me," Willow spoke up.

Spock nodded. "That is logical. We shall therefore remain here waiting for you and this Giles person to contact us."

Willow nodded and ran through the wall to the outside. As she did, Buffy woke up and saw her go through the wall.

"Ghost!" she screamed, and of course Angel – who had been standing around in the background, and listening to the entire conversation with complete disbelief – went to her at once.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "I'll be in the kitchen. Well, anywhere away from the blonde wonder."

******

Elsewhere in Sunnydale  
A while later

Buffy the noblewoman struggled as a pirate pinned her up against the wall. "Pretty, pretty..."

"Let me go!" she screamed. This nightmare was refusing to end, it felt like it would never stop.

Not long ago the red-haired strumpet had walked through a wall, saying something about seeing someone called Giles. A short while later, the woman dressed as a cat had come back into the room and spoken meanly to her, while the male demon had played with his black box and also fiddled with a smaller black box he had clipped onto his belt.

Then the dark-haired man she had thought her guardian and protector, his face had twisted into that of some kind of monster. She had of course fled the hovel that her enemies had dragged her to, hoping to find someone who could protect her.

The noblewoman had run through the streets of the strange village, seeing no signs of the way home, for at least a half hour. All around her was just pandemonium and chaos.

Then the scurvy pirate had found her.

He had clearly wanted to take undue advantage of her body, so she had fled. After a short chase, the noblewoman found herself pinned up against the wall with the pirate's bad breath on her face.

"Aye, treasures await ye," the pirate chortled. He leaned in even closer.

"Step away from her immediately."

The pirate turned and faced a black-haired man with pointed ears. "Aye, an' what ye be?" the possessed Larry asked.

"That is irrelevant. The person you are restraining clearly is not enjoying your company, therefore you will stand aside so she can move away," the newcomer said.

Larry frowned and growled. The possessed Xander simply reached forward gripping Larry's trapezoid and the pirate went down almost immediately, the victim of another Vulcan nerve pinch.

Mr. Spock raised his left eyebrow. "For some reason, that felt oddly satisfying."

Buffy stared at her rescuer, not sure how to react to the man who she had called the child of Satan himself, but who had now saved her from a fate worse than death. Namely, being made unclean at the hands of that villain. "Thank you, kind demon."

The dark-haired man and the woman dressed as a cat ran up. The man-monster spoke, "Listen up, Spike's coming. He's got a horde of those little demons as minions and he's headed our way. There are too many of them for us to face on the street."

Mr. Spock nodded as the Willow ghost joined them. "Understood, we need to find a defensible position."

Angel looked around and then pointed at some nearby warehouses. "There, we can hole up in there, come on." They ran for it, and Spock and Angel briefly held the door to the warehouse against their enemies. But even with their enhanced strength, the enemy forces eventually overcame their barriers.

"GO!" Angel told the three women, before he and the Starfleet officer gave up and followed them.

The vampire named Spike and the demons he was leading gave chase. Before long, they had overpowered Spock and his companions. The platinum-blonde vampire was now standing over a prone Buffy, who was weeping with abject fear.

"Look at you. Pathetic, lost little lamb. I'm really going to enjoy this," the British vamp crowed.

Willow pointed to Spike and said to Spock, "Him, you can disintegrate!"

With amazingly dextrous moves, the Vulcan shook off the demons holding him. His hand bleeding green, Spock quickly reset the setting on his phaser after grabbing it and he aimed it at the enemy vampire.

The toy just whirred harmlessly in his hand.

"What the-?" Xander asked in confusion, Mr. Spock having vanished into oblivion. All around him, children in their costumes looked around with scared looks on their faces. Then he realized what had happened, as the memories were still intact. Harris could remember everything that had happened tonight, and everything about Mr. Spock's life as well.

Kirk. McCoy. The Enterprise crew. Sarek. Amanda. T'Pau. T'Pring...he could remember them all.

Xander's lungs started burning as they'd shifted back to a human norm even though his blood had refused to change colour for some reason, remaining that distinct alien shade of green. The young man started coughing violently as his body struggled to adapt, Cordelia looking at him with great concern. Willow would have too, if the ghost hadn't vanished back into her body.

Spike looked up with an annoyed look with his face. "What?" He then felt his hand jerk as if all resistance to it had ceased.

He glanced down and saw that he was holding a black wig. Then a blonde-haired teenage girl rose up and smiled. A Slayer smile.

"Hi, honey. I'm back."

Then Spike knew pain, before he started running for his un-life.

******

Sunnydale High School, Sunnydale, California  
November 1st, 1997

Giles was in the library, rubbing his forehead in exasperation. Buffy, Cordelia and Willow were filling him on the events on the previous evening. Nothing too outrageous had happened to them, before he'd kicked Ethan's arse and ended the chaos worshipper's spell. Well, nothing too outrageous for the Hellmouth anyway.

At the moment, the reason Giles was rubbing his forehead was that Cordy was complaining over the fact that she couldn't get her deposit back on that cat costume, thanks to all the damage it had suffered. Rupert wasn't sure why HE was the one she'd chosen to complain to, however he suspected Cordelia would explain why soon. The girl was nothing if not tactless to the extreme.

"Buffy," Giles said after Cordy paused for a moment. "Do you feel any after-effects from the possession?" Hopefully, this would buy him some peace.

"Well, uh, I aced the surprise French quiz today. Also, I have this weird-ass urge to knit," the Slayer confessed.

Giles glanced at Willow. She shook her head. "No, 100 percent solid here, no going through any more walls for me."

At that moment, the library doors opened and Jenny Calendar walked in. She walked over to the table where they were all sitting. "Rupert, do you know what's up with Xander today?" she asked.

Giles frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he came into the computer lab this morning. Gathered up a box full of equipment and then worked on the computers for about an hour before leaving," she explained.

Giles explained about the whole Halloween costume thing, and then he turned to Willow. "Who or what did Xander dress up as last night?"

"Mr. Spock," was the computer nerd's reply.

"Good Lord! The, the individual from Star Trek?" Giles looked dumbfounded.

"Yep," Willow nodded at Giles's question. "The one and only."

"YOU know about Star Trek?" Buffy asked her Watcher, genuinely surprised by this fact.

Giles didn't know whether to smile or frown. He went for rolling his eyes. "Yes Buffy, TV is an international invention and not a fad limited to the colonies. I know perfectly well who Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock are."

Willow frowned. "Wait, Ms. Calendar, Xander spent an hour on the computer? What was he working on?"

"Apparently, he upgraded the operating systems. I have no idea how, but the computers now run about 200 percent faster than before. And I don't know what exactly he's engineered them to do," Jenny explained. "But it looks like they're designing materials and compounds that I've never even heard of. And if Xander truly was Mr. Spock last night, and he can remember even a fraction of what that polymath alien knew..." Jenny suddenly looked shocked. "Oh my God."

"Should we be worried?" Giles asked, no doubt remembering the problems with Moloch.

Jenny Calendar shook her head. "Not unless you own Microsoft stock, or you think Xander's gone evil. I mean, if he was to patent whatever he did today, in time...he would probably be able to buy out Bill Gates himself."

That instantly attracted Cordy's attention. "Really?" she asked.

"No doubt about it," Jenny said. "Anyway, Xander took the equipment he'd gathered together and left. He said he was going work at home for a while. God only knows what that means, but given what he might be capable of now...it wouldn't surprise me if he ended up a millionaire by the time he was eighteen, what with all that futuristic technology in his head."

"Oh, look at the time! I need to get going," Cordy said as she left the library in hurry, trying to not to seem like she was in a hurry. In her mind she had to officially dump the guy named Devon and claim a new boyfriend, given Xander's new upwardly mobile potential. It also didn't hurt that she'd become attracted to the doofus ever since junior year had started, and now could act on those feelings with a clear conscience.

Willow's eyes glazed over. "Mr. Spock really was a computer genius, among other things. A, a first class scientific intellect." She blinked and her eyes focused again. "I, uh, I forgot, I've got a school project I need to finish at home. G'bye!" she explained as she hurriedly exited the library too.

The love the redhead had always felt for Xander was now amplified to new heights, and the belief that he might now be her intellectual equal - maybe even her superior - had made Miss Rosenberg determined that Harris learn how it was long past time he forgot about Buffy, and got together with her instead.

Giles watched as the library doors swung shut. As usual, he was clueless about the vagaries of the female mind. "What the devil was that about?"

Buffy and Jenny exchanged a glance before the Slayer responded slowly, "Well, Giles, I think the battle for Vulcan has just begun."

The End...for now


End file.
